Don't Breathe On The Frescoes: Sistine Chapel Gets An AC Upgrade

The breath of 6 million visitors threatened to ruin the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel.

More specifically, exhales of carbon dioxide were interacting with the Michelangelo artworks in such a way that the Vatican had considered limiting the number of visitors to the sacred space, said John Mandyck, chief sustainability officer at UTC Building & Industrial Systems, which includes Carrier, based in Farmington. Carrier donated the chapel's existing air conditioning system decades ago.

"We were called upon to solve a problem," Mandyck said in an phone interview from Rome.

The main issue with the frescoes was the Sistine Chapel's success — its traffic has increased threefold since the 1980s. "It was a real question whether the Sistine Chapel could remain open to the amount of visitors it sees today," Mandyck said.

Those 6 million souls walk through the space, bringing dirt, dust and breath. Those particles float upward to the arched ceiling, where they settle on the frescoes. The carbon dioxide, caught in the chapel, suffocated the frescoes and led to their deterioration, Mandyck said.

The Vatican reached out to Carrier, a division of United Technologies Corp., for a solution. Mandyck's team of engineers based in Syracuse, N.Y., and across Europe worked on a new air conditioning system. The final design will move three times as much air while using half as much electricity.

Air curtains and directed vents will circulate the dust and the carbon dioxide away from the frescoes. The new system will also be donated to the Vatican.

In a statement, Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums, said the new air management system "will enable us to realize our goal of ensuring the preservation of Michelangelo's masterpieces in the Sistine Chapel while allowing visitors to continue to behold the frescoes for years to come."

Carrier said it is working to disassemble the existing system. During that time a temporary air conditioning unit will cool the chapel from Italy's summer heat. The company expects the new system to be completed by October.